Waterford Wedgwood

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

Waterford Wedgwood

Type	Plc
Fate	Major elements in receivership
Headquarters	Waterford,  Ireland
Key people	Tony O'Reilly (lead shareholder, Chairman 1995-2009), Peter Goulandris
Industry	China, porcelain and glass manufacture
Subsidiaries	Waterford Crystal Wedgwood Rosenthal AG Royal Doulton Cashs of Ireland
Website	http://www.waterfordwedgwood.com/

Waterford Wedgwood plc is the holding entity for a group of companies headquartered in Ireland, specialised in the manufacture of high quality china, porcelain and glass. The group is dominated by Tony O'Reilly and his immediate family, and the family of Mr. O'Reilly's second wife, Chryss, the two families together having invested hundreds of millions of euro in it. Its financial record has been mixed, and significant cost-cutting has been ongoing for many years.

On January 5, 2009, parts of the Group, including the main Irish and UK operations, were placed in receivership^[1].

History

Incorporated: 1947 as Waterford Crystal Limited
Employees: 9,271
Sales: EUR 879.6 million (US$969.7 million) (1999)
Stock Exchanges: Dublin London NASDAQ
Ticker Symbol: WATFY
NAIC: 327112 Vitreous China, Fine Earthenware, and Other Pottery Product Manufacturing; 327212 Other Pressed and Blown Glass and Glassware Manufacturing; 332214 Kitchen Utensil, Pot, and Pan Manufacturing; 339911 Jewelry (except Costume) Manufacturing; 339912 Silverware and Hollowware Manufacturing; 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies
Company's old website: Waterford Wedgwood's Previous Website

The present company was founded in 1947. The firm traces its heritage to the 1780s

[2]</ref>.

Subsidiaries

The group's constituent companies include:

• Waterford Crystal, with brands including Waterford, Marquis by Waterford and a number of Waterford-designer cooperations, such as with John Rocha
• Wedgwood (Josiah Wedgwood and Sons), with the range of Wedgwood brands, along with Coalport, Mason's and Johnson Brothers
• Royal Doulton
• Cashs of Ireland

and the group also licences its brands to other companies.

Financials

Revenues are significant, Waterford being more than twice the scale of its nearest competitor in analysts' reviews, but the company has been in losses for five consecutive years.

Results for 2007-2008

Sales for the year to April 5 2008 were 671.8 million euros, down 9.4% year-on-year. Losses were 231.1 million euros, up from 71.3 million euros in the previous year.

On 2 April 2008, the CEO, Peter Cameron (previously COO, and prior to that CEO of acquisition All-Clad), resigned, and was replaced by David Sculley.

Operational costs have been reduced, with around 4,000 jobs removed or in the process of being removed between early 2005 and late 2008.

The results during 2008 were poorer than expected, and out of line with comments O'Reilly made in a 2007 magazine interview, predicting profitability by 2008.

Share performance

In October 2008, the shares fell to .001 euro cent ^[2].

Financing

2007

A convertible preference share issue was made in April 2007, totalling 200 million euros. Subscribers included Lazard Alternative Investments (50 million euros), Tony O'Reilly, Peter Goulandris and others. As with other share issues of recent years, the issue was on a par basis, and did not proportionally dilute existing capital.

2008

It was announced 1 August 2008 that a further 120 million euros will be raised in share sales in 2008, taking the total raised since 2005 to over 400 million euros.

In September 2008, details of the new share issue were further announced, and this issue will proportionally dilute capital, reducing the entire value of the shares extant prior to the new issue to under 5% of the total capital after the issue - this will be achieved by issuing 5,000 additional shares for each share subscribed. Sir Anthony O'Reilly and Peter Goulandris announced that they would take up their full allotments, investing a further 60 million euros, and Lazard Brothers would increase their shareholding. Other investors did not advance sufficient funds to complete the issue.

2009

Following the failure of the 2008 share issue and the subsequent defaulting of bank covenants by the company in December 2008, Tony O'Reilly, Jr stated in January 2009 that the company was in advanced negotiations with a US private equity company concerning a rescue package, which would result in the bulk of the company's production moving away from the UK and Ireland to Indonesia (where the company already has some production facilities).

On January 5, 2009, David Sculley, chief executive officer of Waterford Wedgwood PLC, announced that Waterford Wedgwood had been put into receivership after the heavily-indebted firm had failed to find a buyer.^[1] Union members organised and occupied the Dublin offices lobby and the Kilbarry Plant protesting the withdrawal of credit lines by The Bank of America and threatened 480 redundancies. Their aim, according to blogger, Fiona Harrington "to either have the company nationalised, or to maintain it as a going concern until a buyer can be found."^[3]

On February 27, 2009, Waterford Wedgwood's receiver, Deloitte, announced that the New York-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners had purchased "certain Irish and UK assets of Waterford Wedgwood and the assets of several of its Irish and UK subsidiaries" in a transaction expected to completed in March.^[4] 176 out of the threatened 480 jobs were saved, although the deal did not include the Waterford site.^[5]

Directors

Following the resignations on 5 January 2009 of the Chairman, Senior Independent Director, Lady O'Reilly and a former CEO, and of further directors on the 8th and 9th, and the departure of John Foley, the Board of Directors comprises the below. All resigning directors have also resigned from subsidiary boards.

• Peter Goulandris, Deputy Chairman
• David W. Sculley, Group CEO from 1 August 2008, Interim Group CEO (from 2 April 2008), partner in a New York investment firm
• Anthony Jones, CFO (from November 2007)
• Mark Downie, Company Secretary
• Lord Wedgwood
• Jonathan (Jon) H. Kagan (Lazard)
• Ali E. Wambold (Lazard)

Up to 5 January 2009, the Board of Directors comprised the below, many having served for a decade or more:

• Sir Anthony (Tony) O'Reilly, Chairman
• Peter Goulandris, Deputy Chairman
• Lady Chryss O'Reilly (nee Goulandris)
• David W. Sculley, Group CEO from 1 August 2008, Interim Group CEO (from 2 April 2008), partner in a New York investment firm
• Anthony Jones, CFO (from November 2007)
• Mark Downie, Company Secretary
• Dr. F. Alan Wedgwood
• Lord Wedgwood
• John Foley, CEO of Waterford Crystal
• Kevin McGoran, Chairman of Waterford Crystal and Fitzwilton plc
• Ottmar C. Kusel, CEO of Rosenthal AG
• (P.) Redmond O'Donogue, Group CEO until 31 August 2005
• Patrick J Molloy, senior independent director
• Jonathan (Jon) H. Kagan (Lazard)
• Ali E. Wambold (Lazard)

References

External links

• Company website
• Rosenthal Website, German
• Rosenthal Website, US
• Royal Doulton Website
• Waterford Crystal Website
• Wedgwood Website
• Cashs of Ireland Website
• Waterford Wedgwood Press Release Regarding Receivership
• Louisa Nesbitt (January 5, 2009). "Waterford Goes Into Receivership as No Buyer Emerges". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a4D0pnQBmwjs&refer=europe.